


Educational Materials

by Cowardly Lion (Catsmeow)



Category: Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1
Genre: Humor, M/M, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-07
Updated: 2017-11-07
Packaged: 2019-01-30 21:39:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12661941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Catsmeow/pseuds/Cowardly%20Lion
Summary: Daniel balks when Jack makes a special request.





	Educational Materials

**Author's Note:**

> Post Series SG-1, mild spoilers for SGA S5 and SGU S1. Written October 2009 to an image prompt from SGU - a screengrab from Daniel's instructional video about the Ancients. Mention of SGA.

"You want me to make a video." Daniel's voice, already flattened by the telephone connection lost all inflection as he repeated Jack's request. There was a millisecond pause then a startled, "Oh! You..you want me to make a _video_." Jack could picture the alarm on Daniel's face as his voice dropped to an urgent whisper. "Jack, I know this is a secure line, encrypted and all, but I really don't think you should talk so openly."

Amused, Jack replied, "Not that kind of video, Daniel. An educational one. Sort of an 'everything you need to know about stargates but were afraid to ask' video for the new recruits. It costs too much to tie up your time or the other scientists time to bring the FNGs up to speed. It'll be a more efficient use of manpower if we could sit them down with a taped history of the gate before they go on to the rest of orientation. You, Carter, and Bill Lee have far better things to do."

"Maybe you should double check your duty roster because Sam hasn't been posted at the SGC in quite some time now."

"Doesn't mean she's gotten out of it. Just means she's been doing the Stargate 101 thing on Atlantis or aboard the Hammond."

"She has?"

"Of course she has." It wasn't often Jack could surprise Daniel more than once in a conversation. "How did you not know this? You and Carter talk every chance you get. And don't think I don't know about the personal emails and video messages you two include in the data dumps across this big universe of ours."

There was long pause, then a quiet, "Have you ever--"

"No, I don't read them. I make sure no one else does either, though it looks like Carter's got you guys set up with some extra-special super-enhanced version of cryptography on steroids that no one could crack."

"No one with the possible exception of Rodney MacKay or his sister. They took the version that Rodney and Radek built for the military then, um, tweaked it a bit."

"Radek?" 

Ten years ago--hell, _five_ years ago--Jack would have known instantly which of the hundreds of people under his command that referred to. Now, he couldn't even remember if it was a first or last name and that bugged the crap out of him. Knees had been shot for years, back started going soon after and now his damn memory. He hated every reminder of his advancing age. Christ, some days he felt like Methuselah.

"Dr. Zelenka."

"Oh, right." With that, the image clicked into place. "Little guy. Kind of stressed. Mutters to himself in Romanian."

"Czech."

"That too. Goes on about pigeons if you talk to him long enough."

Conversational momentum sputtered and came to a halt. Over the line, Jack could hear the sound of Daniel breathing and flashed back to 3:00 a.m. Sunday morning about four months ago. He had awakened for no particular reason with Daniel draped half across him and breathing quietly in his ear. It had been a hurried weekend, snatched during one of SG-1's brief down times that happened to coincide with a rare weekend off for Jack and Daniel had spent more time traveling than he had with Jack. Laying there in the darkness, holding Daniel's body to his and listening to him breathe had done more to soothe Jack's soul than anything else. That was the last time they'd been able to get together.

Daniel sighed. "Look, if it's not cost efficient for me to spend a day with the new guys, then it's not cost efficient for me to take time off of my schedule and, by the way, take SG-1 out of the rotation, just to make what is essentially a how-to video. Anyone could be the narrator. You don't need me to take about the history."

"You're part of the history. You're what made this program happen and I want those recruits to associate you with it."

"Well, that's...um...thanks for the compliment, though I have to point out that there were many people all working on this before I even got here. But back to the video, why not have Bill Lee or whoever ends up doing the hard sciences portion also do the background on the gate."

"I am."

"But you said you wanted me to do the historical background."

"I do."

Daniel swore loudly. Something harsh and guttural, probably Abydonian. "So, what, I'm supposed to do all of it? History of the gate. History of the Goa'uld. Current inhabitants of two galaxies. The Ancients. The Ori. Etc. _And_ all the tech stuff? Wormholes? Hyperspace? F-302s and spaceships?"

Jack tried to interject but Daniel had a full head of steam and wasn't subsiding.

"Do you have any idea how many reports I still have to write? How many different missions we already have planned out for the next six months? How many site supervision requests I need to fill? Artifacts that need study? I can't spare one hour let alone the amount of time this video project is going to require."

"Hey!" Jack finally got Daniel's attention. "Even Captain Kirk made educational videos."

"That was William Shatner, not Captain Kirk, and he's an actor. I'm not. It's his job to do stuff like that."

"Yeah, will this is your job, too. Falls under the 'other duties as required' section of your contract."

"Oh great. And whose brilliant idea was it to take an SGC department head off line for a job that could be done by absolutely anyone?"

"That would be me." Jack winced, waiting for the explosion.

"What? Are you _kidding_ me? How many times have I complained about the complete and utter lack of time I have? How many? I have at least 6 items on my urgent list right now. Each one will take a minimum of four to six hours and each one has top priority and I still--"

"I'll be supervising the video project in person."

"--have no idea how I'm going to get even one thing accomplished much less all of them. And suddenly you decide I've got nothing better to do and pull me away from highly critical--"

Jack raised his voice almost to a shout. "I said, I'll be supervising in person!"

Dead silence.

"Daniel?"

"Supervising, you say." The tone was calm. Conversational.

"Yeah."

"In person." 

"Yep."

More silence, then "You'll stay with me like you always do, right?"

"Just bunking in a buddy's spare room as usual."

"And you'll be there for however long this takes."

"Gotta make sure it's up to snuff."

"This will be the first thing the new guys see about the program, so it has to be top notch."

"Quality takes time," suggested Jack.

"Could take quite a bit of time."

"Lot of subjects to cover."

"In depth."

"Don't want to rush it.

"No, we don't want to rush it. We need to take this slowly. For the good of the program of course."

"Of course. So..."

"When can you get here?"

"Figured I'd fly out to Peterson Friday night. Make sure I was ready to start fresh Monday morning."

"Right, because jet-lag can be problem, even if it's just a two hour time difference."

"Exactly."

"I'll clear my calendar." Daniel's voice had dropped half an octave. Picked up a smoky overtone.

Jack responded in kind, adding a bit of tease. "I'll help you fill it in again." 

"You can make anything sound dirty." Daniel chuckled.

Jack smiled and shrugged even though Daniel couldn't see him. "What can I say? It's a gift."

"Then say whatever you want, just say it in person."

"Always, Daniel. Always."

 

Finis


End file.
